Shoe counter



July 31, 1934.

A; c. SEWALL SHOE COUNTER Filed July 7, 1933 2133371.)? CI (S'waZZ awzfim v' Patented July 31, 1934 H PATENT OFFICE Least-12 SHOE COUNTERArthur C. Sewall,

Richmond, Maine Application July '1, 1932, Serial No. 621,219

4 Claims.

My invention relates to counters for shoes, and

has among its objects the provision of an improved counter which, amongother things, se-

cures all the advantages which have heretofore 5 been secured withcounters constructed entirely of leather and all the advantages whichhave heretofore been secured with those constructed entirely of fiberboard, and without securing the disadvantages of either.

The invention however will be best understood from the followingdescription when read in the light of the accompanying drawing of acounter constructed according to the invention, the scope of whichlatter will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:-

Fig. l is a perspective of the counter construct-,

ed according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is aperspectlve of a fragment of the strip from which the counteris fabricated; and v Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.Heretofore, shoe counters have commonly been constructed wholly ofnatural or artificial leather, or wholly of flber board or likerelatively stifl material. A counter constructed wholly of leather, tosecure the necessary stiffness at the lower portions of the counter,must be relatively thick, which makes it expensive and makes itdiflicult to form the flange at the bottom for attaching the counter tothe insole and upper. Further, a counter of such thickness, although itmay be suitably beveledkat its upper edge portion to secure therequisite flexibility at that portion, is rather bulky. In consequence,in practice a whole leather counter is 'commonly made of leather thethickness of which is a compromise between that which will secure therequisite stiffhas at the lower portion and that which is too bulky. Theresult is an expensive counter which is not altogether satisfactory.-When a counter is made wholly of flber board or similar material, thecounter, due to the relatively great stiffness of such material ascompared to leather, may be relativelythin, which facilitates theforming of the bottom flange and eliminates bulkiness while providing aninexpensive construction. However, such a counter cannot be formed .tosecure the desired flexibility at the upper edge of the counter withoutresorting to expensive and troublesome softening treatment, and in factno satisfactory practical method,of so treating flberboard has yet been.ad-

vanced.

According to the present invention, the lower 55 'portion'of thecounteris'fprmed of a strip 1 of fiber board which may be readily formedto provide the bottom flange 3 of the counter, while the upper portionof the counter is made of a strip 5 of flexible material such asartificial or natural leather, preferably the latter. The to leatherstrip 5 may be much thinner than the fiber strip 1, and much thinnerthan would be the case if the counter were wholly of leather,satisfactory results being secured, for example, .when the flber stripis ofnumber 12 to number 16 fiber gauge and the leather strip is of 3 or4 irons in thickness; This of course results, among other thingshereinafter pointed out, in a reduction in the cost of manufacture. I

As shown, the strips 1 and 5 are beveled, as indicated at 7, and arearranged with their edges in overlapping relation with the leather stripon the outer side of the counter, and are cemented together, preferablywith flexible rubber cement. Commonly, the upper edge portion of theleather stripmay be beveled, as indicated at 9, to a feather edge so asto secure the desirable flexibility at the upper edge. portion of thecounter, while the-lower edge portion of the flber strip may be slightlybeveled, as indicated at 11, to ac facilitate the forming of the flange3 and for securing the desired, thinness of the edge portion of saidflange.

When the strip according to Fig. 2 is molded to form the counterillustrated in Fig. 1, in which 35 the walls are bent to a profile anexample of which is indicated in Fig. 3, it has been found that a smoothwalled counter results, due to the arrangement of parts as shown by Fig.2, and that the joining beveled portions '7 of the two strips, due tothe increasing amount of leather at the joint as the upper part of thelatter is approached, causes a gradual decrease in the degree offlexibility at the joint from that of the fiber board to that of theleather, resulting in a smooth walled bend when the counter is flexedwhen the shoe is in use. Also it has been found, that with the leatheron the outer side of the counter at the joint portion thereof, thatportion may be more readily sanded than would be the case if the fiberboardwere on the outer side to reduce any irregularities that maybe'present on the outer surface, which irregularities if present wouldmar the appearance of the finished shoe.

It will be understood that wide deviations may 1 5 be made from theembodiment of the invention submitted without departing from the spiritof the invention. 1

I claim:

1. A shoe counter the body of which comprises flexible material, the twostrips having overlapping relatively wide beveled portions cementedtogether to form a wide skived joint at a point on the side of thecounter well above said flange whereby both pieces of material atopposite sides of said joint form part of the side walls 01' thecounter.

3. A shoe counter the body of which comprises a lower strip ofrelatively thick stifi fiber board formed at its lower edge portion toprovide a bottom flange for the counter, and a relatively thin upperstrip of flexible material beveled to a feather edge at the top of thecounter, said strips having overlapping relatively wide beveled portionscemented together to form' a wide skived joint joining said strips at apoint on the side of the counter well above said flange whereby bothpieces or material at opposite sides of said joint form part of the sidewalls of the counter, the overlapping edge of the flexible upper stripbeing at the outer side of the counter.

4. A shoe counter the body of which comprises a lower strip ofrelatively thick stiff fiber board formed at its lower edge portion toprovide a bottom flange for the counter, and a relatively thin upperstrip of flexible leather beveled to a feather edge at the top of thecounter, said strips having overlapping relatively wide beveled portionscemented together to form a wide skived joint joining said strips at apoint on the side of the counter well above said flange whereby bothpieces of material at opposite sides of said joint form part of the sidewalls of the counter, the overlapping edge of the flexible upper stripbeing at the outer side of the counter.

ARTHUR C. SEWALL.

